cover image Heavenly Pleasures: A Corinna Chapman Mystery

Heavenly Pleasures: A Corinna Chapman Mystery

Kerry Greenwood, . . Poisoned Pen, $24.95 (241pp) ISBN 978-1-59058-426-2

Lose all thought of New Year’s diets, you who enter Australian author Greenwood’s delectable second Corinna Chapman cozy (after 2007’s Earthly Delights ). Corinna, formerly an XL-sized accountant in power suit and kitten heels, runs a downtown Melbourne artisan bakery, attached to a tantalizing Roman-themed apartment building housing a rich assortment of eccentrics. These include leather queen Mistress Dread; Corinna’s omnivorous reforming junkie apprentice, Jason; Meroe, a Wiccan witch; Corinna’s private zooful of arrogant cats; and Daniel, her gorgeous trout-pool–eyed ex-Israeli soldier lover, who providentially for Corinna adores ’em supersized—and he cooks, too. When someone starts injecting a neighboring shop’s lavishly described Belgian chocolates with chili sauce, Corinna leaves kneading for detecting, while Daniel struggles to unmask a slithering, slavering self-proclaimed boy messiah. Greenwood’s yeasty soufflé of unlikely but satisfying elements quickly thickens over the top, but who cares—it all just leads to Corinna’s recipe for Chocolate Orgasm Muffins. (June)